Photonic devices, which use light to transport large amounts of information quickly, have the potential to enhance or even replace the electronic devices that are ubiquitous in our lives today. But before such optical connections can be integrated into telecommunication systems and computers, researchers need to make it easier to manipulate light at the nanoscale. A new on-chip zero-index metamaterial makes this possible, opening the door for technological innovation and research. This new metamaterial was developed in the lab of Eric Mazur at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and is described in the...

The United States is on a steady skid downward. The latest milestone in America’s decline is especially demoralizing: The U.S. has slouched from among the world’s Top 10 freest economies. In fact, we’re No. 12 — down two spots from No. 10 last year. This bad news emerges from the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom, released this morning by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal. “Now considered only a ‘mostly free’ economy, the U.S. has earned the dubious distinction of having recorded one of the longest sustained declines in economic freedom, second only to Argentina, of any...

Somewhat lost in news about how bad the economy has been is the plight of America's young people. They are threatened with becoming a "lost generation" whose promise was cut short by policies of the Obama administration. The Young America's Foundation has been publishing its "Youth Misery Index" since 1993. It is calculated by adding youth unemployment and average college loan debt figures with each person's share of the national debt. Under President Obama, the index has skyrocketed. A Youth Misery Index that measures young Americans' woes has skyrocketed under President Barack Obama and hit an all-time high.The index,...

Allen West did an interview with NewsMax today where they discussed everything from gun control to the debt ceiling to Afghanistan. Kinda the shotgun approach to get his opinion on as much as possible in 15 minutes – and it’s a great interview. But as far as gun control, West believes that it just won’t fly with the American people and he doesn’t believe that Obama has the populous mandate that he things he has. West says we’re not talking about the real issues anyway, we’re just talking about a political agenda:

To give you an idea how bad the jobs report released on Friday is, consider this fact: The employment situation in the country is so bad that economists can’t accurately measure it with the existing tools they use to measure jobs. In other words, we have entered a period in our country not contemplated by economists. They simply don’t have the tools to measure what’s actually occurring in the jobs market. Modern economists never imagined a scenario in which a country with as much wealth, power and innovation as United States could stretch out a jobs recession as long as...

Well, this should give Forbesâ€”known for their annual "rich lists"â€”a run for their money. Last night, Bloomberg released the "Bloomberg Billionaires Index," the first daily global ranking of the richest people in the world as part of their coverage of wealth. The index is available here, and its most noticeable characteristic is that it is built to change daily depending on stock fluctuations and economic/company news. From the methodologyâ€” The index is a dynamic measure of the worldâ€™s wealthy based on changes in markets, the economy and Bloomberg reporting. Each net-worth figure is updated every business day at 5:30 p.m....

We wish that we could call this list, "The Happiest Cities In America." But right now every city in America is suffering. The least miserable cities might surprise you, including Pittsburgh and Buffalo. These cities experienced less of a boom during the bubble, so they're finding it easier to recover. Conversely the most miserable cities are mostly housing bubble capitals. Our list is based on an index from Brookings including unemployment rate and change in employment, home prices and gross metro product since before the recession. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ #20 McAllen, Texas Unemployment rate of 12.2% Employment up 2.0% from peak Gross...

The Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing gauge dropped to 50.8% last month – just slightly above a 2011 low - from 51.6% in September. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected the closely followed index to rise to 52.1%. Reading over 50% indicate more manufacturers are expanding instead of shrinking.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago's national activity index, which gauges the health of the U.S. economy, improved to -0.22 in September from -0.59 in August...A three-month average of the index, meanwhile, rose to -0.21 from negative -0.28

Manufacturing in the Philadelphia region showed signs of recovery in October, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported Thursday. The Philly Fed diffusion index rose to 8.7 in October from negative 17.5 in September. This is the first positive reading in three months. Readings above zero indicate expansion. The jump was much stronger than expected. Economists polled by MarketWatch had anticipated a negative 10.0 reading for October.

...The Empire state index inched higher to a negative 8.5 in October from negative 8.8 in September. Readings below zero indicate deterioration, with higher numbers of firms reporting that conditions had worsened...

A gauge of consumer sentiment declined in October, as expectations and views on current conditions fell... The preliminary sentiment reading for October hit 57.5, compared with 59.4 in September. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a slight rise, to 59.7, with volatility in the stock market offsetting lower gas prices. ... The sentiment reading, which covers how consumers view their personal finances as well as business and buying conditions, averaged about 87 in the year before the start of the most recent recession.

Manufacturing activity picked up a bit in September, according to a key survey released Monday that suggests a slow-growing economy that has nonetheless avoided falling into recession. The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index rose to 51.6% from 50.6% in August. Economists polled by MarketWatch had anticipated an unchanged reading.

The final reading for September showed that sentiment rose to 59.4 from 55.7 in August, which was the lowest level since November 2008. A preliminary reading released earlier this month estimated a sentiment level of 57.8 for September. With stock volatility and weak employment maintaining downward pressure on sentiment, economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a slight rise to 57.6 in September.

...The Kansas City Fed's manufacturing composite index increased to 6 in September from 3 in August. Readings above zero indicate expansion... The rest of the story from the KC Fed: The production index rose from -2 to 3, and the shipments, new orders, and order backlog indexes also edged up. The employment index increased for the second straight month, but the new orders for exports index fell slightly after rising last month. Both inventory indexes increased somewhat. The shipments, order backlog, and new orders for exports indexes all rose slightly, and the capital expenditures index increased to its highest level...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Orders for U.S. durable goods fell slightly in August as demand shrank for motor vehicles and certain large defense goods, the government reported Wednesday. Bookings for U.S.-made products designed to last at least three years dipped 0.1% in August after a 4.1% gain in July, the Commerce Department said. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected orders to rise by 0.4%.